Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

Social Media Platforms for your Band

By the end of 2010 most bands have figured out which social media platforms are most useful and efficient, and which sites are being left behind. While you may be familiar with some of these websites from personal use, we want to delve a bit deeper into how they can be used as resources for your band and introduce you to some great sites that you may still be unfamiliar with.

1) Twitter This is a phenomenal tool for staying on peoples' radars. Want to keep fans up-to-date on shows, CD releases, tour stories and what you had for lunch? Twitter is a great resource for this kind of promotion. It's also a great way to network and get fans to give you “shout outs” across their span of “followers”. With little effort required in maintaining the page, a quick daily update can go a long way.

2) Facebook Soaring up to the top of any Social Media list over the years is the beloved Facebook. We all know how to use this site as a personal networking platform and many bands have also discovered the benefits for creating a Musician Page where fans and friends could add a link to their own personal page. With more than 500 million active users, this is a great place to take advantage of reaching out to people of all walks of life online.

3) Bandcamp Promotion is only one important aspect of social media for bands; getting your actual music out is another important area to consider. The site, BandCamp.com, caters to bands who want to release records independently without worrying about building their own platform from scratch or shelling out profits to record labels. With a free membership, there's little reason not to utilize this great resource. And the best part: there's no commitment, no exclusivity. Maintain your freedom and walk away with money in your pockets and music in your fans' ears.

4) CD Baby With the aid of BandCamp, you can now release CDs directly from a platform on your website, but what about distribution? You're going to want fans-in-waiting to be able to stumble across your record on Amazon, itunes, and all of the other online stores, but without a record label, that's a difficult task... right? Nope! Cue in CDBaby.com, a site that's been around for years, helping independent musicians distribute their music without the aid of a record label. For a one-time low fee, you become a member of this site and can utilize their service for years. Who can complain about selling records and collecting money with the click of a button?!

5) Reverb Nation You have your promotional plan in place, your music available for sale, now you just need some marketing tools. Reverb Nation sets you up with a series of marketing tools that can help you get gigs, get discovered by potential fans, managers, and labels, and much much more. This multi-faceted social media platform has plenty of avenues to assist you in marketing your band, tracking your stats, and allowing the money to flow. And just to sweeten the pot, it's free.